Gardening: The Basics: Gardening Books

As recent years have seen alarming declines of insect and bird populations in many states, more gardeners have discovered the importance of including native plants in order to nurture these pollinators and sustain local ecosystems. But when so many popular landscaping designs involve exotic cultivars and invasive plant species, how can you create a garden that is both aesthetically pleasing and ecologically responsible?    In this fully revised second edition of the classic guide Designing Gardens with Flora of the American East, gardening expert Carolyn Summers draws upon the most recent research on sustainable landscaping. She is joined in this edition by her daughter, landscape designer Kate Brittenham, offering an intergenerational dialogue about the importance of using indigenous plants that preserve insect and bird habitats. The practical information they provide is equally useful for home gardeners and professionals, including detailed descriptions of keystone trees, shrubs, perennials, vines, and grasses that are native to the Eastern United States. Accompanied by entirely new illustrations and updated plant lists, they offer chic yet eco-friendly landscape designs fully customized for different settings, from suburban yards to corporate office parks. The states covered in this book are CT, DE, IA, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, TN, VA, VT, WI, and WV, as well as southern Quebec and Ontario. 

A gardener's pandemic journal that combines memoir with an exploration of the natural world both inside and outside the garden. In March 2020, Margot Anne Kelley was watching seeds germinate in her greenhouse. At high risk from illness, the planning, planting, and tending to seedlings took on extra significance. She set out to make her pandemic garden thrive but also to better understand the very nature of seeds and viruses. As seeds became seedlings, became plants, became food, Kelley looks back over the last few millennia as successions of pandemics altered human beings and global culture. Seeds and viruses serve as springboards for wide-ranging reflections, such as their shared need for someone to transport them, the centrality of movement to being alive, and the domestication of plants as an act of becoming co-dependent. Pandemic viruses only occurred through humankind's settling down, taking up agriculture, and giving up a nomadic life. And yet it's the garden that now provides a refuge and a source of life, inspiration, and hope. A Gardener at the End of the World explores questions of what we can preserve--of history, genetic biodiversity, culture, language--and what we cannot. It is for any reader curious about the overlap of nature, science, and history.

Growing an Edible Landscape is filled with advice and tips for converting unproductive lawn and garden areas into food-growing regions where edible plants thrive.

This essential guide to growing a bountiful food garden includes detailed seed-starting, growing, and harvesting information for 62 vegetables, fruits, and herbs, a complete companion-planting guide, and organic pest-control handbook. The latest addition to Storey's bestselling Backyard Homestead series, The Backyard Homestead Guide to Growing Organic Food is a one-stop reference for all the key information food gardeners need to grow a healthy, bountiful garden. Author Tanya Denckla Cobb presents key information based on extensive research and years of experience, including when to start seeds for each type of crop (and at what temperature), how far apart to space seedlings, how to tell when a crop is ready to harvest, and notes on preservation. The book features a comprehensive companion planting guide and an in-depth review of the most effective organic pest control practices, including recipes for how to make your own pest deterrent sprays.

Make your garden and home look and smell heavenly with this accessible gardening guide that explains how to grow fragrant flowers outdoors and bring natural scents indoors by creating floral arrangements, scented beauty products, and more. "A practical guide to a life infused with the scent of flowers."-Kelly Smith Trimble, senior editorial director for HGTV and author of Vegetable Gardening Wisdomand The Creative Vegetable Gardener There is nothing like the beauty and scent of a flower-filled garden and home. The Fragrant Flower Gardenshows you how to grow flowers that are a feast for the nose as well as the eyes, from a naturally perfumed carpet of sweet alyssum and the warm, spicy scent of gardenia to the heavenly aroma of lilacs. A beautiful garden is one where you can find joy in every sense-literally. The Fragrant Flower Gardenmakes this dream a reality with garden design guidance for a year's worth of flowers, foliage, and fragrance. Then, reap the wellness benefits of your fragrant flowers through DIY projects such as making floral arrangements,perfumes, tub soaks, and tinctures. Whether you prefer the smell of classic lavender or something more adventurous like chocolate cosmos, The Fragrant Flower Gardenopens the door to creating a scented flower garden that is a delight for all.

"The Ultimate Wildlife Habitat Garden helps you become more intentional about attracting birds, bees, and more to the garden...you can build a beautiful garden for all seasons while simultaneously striving to support wildlife."―Horticulture The Ultimate Wildlife Habitat Garden is a beginner-friendly handbook that helps homeowners create a beautiful garden that attracts birds, bees, butterflies, and more. Everyone wants a garden buzzing with life, and Stacy Tornio makes it easy by sharing details about which plants attract specific creatures. Stacy Tornio makes it easy to attract birds, bees, and butterflies to your home garden by sharing details about which plants attract specific creatures. The simple organization makes it easy to find exactly what you want, with chapters on attracting birds, bringing in bees butterflies, and welcoming wildlife. If you are looking to build a garden from scratch, there are ten plans with specific plant choices. The plans include a hummingbird garden, a birdseed garden, and options that are low-maintenance and drought-resistant. You'll also find expert advice on finding the right feeder, avoiding pesticides, and choosing native plants. The Ultimate Wildlife Habitat Garden is a beautiful, photo-filled guide that will help you grow the earth-friendly garden of your dreams.      

Followed by millions @epicgardening, Author Kevin Espiritu has built a modern, high-tech homestead on a modest urban lot. In Epic Homesteading, he teaches you how to do the same, wherever you live. As Kevin has proven--thanks to his enthusiasm and willingness to experiment--there's no need to go "back to the land," live off-grid, and leave behind modern conveniences to improve your self-sufficiency and autonomy. Anyone can do it. Follow in Kevin's footsteps with this accessible, beginner-friendly guide to embracing today's technology to grow and preserve food, raise mini livestock like bees and chickens, set up automated systems like irrigation and greywater recycling, and so much more. The high-tech homesteading concepts and projects introduced in Epic Homesteading show you that, wherever you are in the world--city, country, or suburbia--homesteading is for YOU! Learn how to:   Use solar power  Automate rainwater catchment and distribution Set up your food-growing spaces, outdoors and in  Plant and care for a small orchard, including pest management Cultivate microgreens and sprouts Keep bees, chickens, and quail  Use laundry and shower greywater in the garden Preserve food Seek out and utilize free resources  Maximize energy efficiency through a mini-split system, smart lighting, and timers Plus, you'll find large and small step-by-step DIY projects to power-up your homestead quickly. As an added bonus, Kevin also shares advice on more complex subjects, such as investigating local zoning regulations and permitting requirements, staying organized, understanding your limitations, and designing your homestead for efficiency and beauty. Learn how to make an epic homestead of your own and, as Kevin likes to say, "Keep on Growing!" For more small-space gardening advice from Kevin, check out his other books, Field Guide to Urban Gardening and Grow Bag Gardening. 

"Charming, delightful, and a great companion for gardeners and naturalists alike."--Booklist Lavender, basil, hyssop, balm, sage, rue -- the thinking gardener's guide to herbs. Writer/naturalist Henry Beston, a founding father of the environmental movement, believed that a strong connection to nature is essential. "It is only when we are aware of the earth and of the earth as poetry that we truly live," Beston says in his now-classic Herbs and the Earth. In this book, Beston shares one of those connections as seen through the oldest group of plants known to gardeners. "A garden of herbs," he writes, "is a garden of things loved for themselves in their wholeness and integrity. It is not a garden of flowers, but a garden of plants which are sometimes very lovely flowers and are always more than flowers." Whether you are already a committed herbalist or just dreaming of planting your first small garden, this book is a powerfully rich source of inspiration and information. As Roger B. Swain observes in his moving introduction, Herbs and the Earth has an intensity that evokes the herbs themselves, as if, pressed between the pages, their aroma has seeped into the pages. This Nonpareil edition includes both an introduction by Roger B. Swain and an afterword by Bill McKibben.

This lushly photographed idea book proves that it is possible to create a glamorous outdoor space of ever-changing color, teeming with life, in the smallest of spaces, whether a patio, terrace, or front porch. This inspirational guide demonstrates how a glorious outdoor space is possible, even with only a small patio and a few pots. Featuring detailed photos and text by Parkinson who has been named a rising gardening star by Architectural Digest, this new book is the key to success with container gardening. Parkinson shows how to create a veritable paradise in pots with aspirational season-by-season ideas that are easy to replicate in any situation. The emphasis is on creating a small haven for birds, butterflies, and other wildlife--from flowers for pollinators to small fruiting shrubs that provide winter sustenance for birds. Even an upturned pot can create a welcoming space for a mosquito-eating frog. The book is filled with planting and propagating advice, tips on improving soil, seasonal tasks, and suggested planting ideas that include both flowering and edible plants for a vibrant backyard oasis. This is container gardening at its most romantic and stylish.

A visual feast of garden design inspiration that embraces diversity and teaches you how to create a lush, colorful, edible, and meaningful garden wonderland of your own. "Through story and imagery,Garden Wonderlandreminds us over and over thatplants should be part of everyday for everyone- as food, experience, memory, and creativity."-Jennifer Jewell, creator and host of the Cultivating Placepublic radio program and podcast, and author of What We Sow Award-winning garden designer Leslie Bennett creates gardens filled with stunning layers of color and texture. But even more than that, they "feed the eye and nourish the soul" (Elle Decor). Featuring practical how-to information alongside examples from nineteen gardens, Bennett shows how to incorporate personal and edible elements into the landscape to honor a variety of cultures, while including families of all shapes and sizes, to create space that nurtures self, community, and more. For example, the team designed a garden for the cofounder of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation to showcase art from emerging Black artists, while for a vegan chef's garden, they incorporated unusual vegetables that can't be found in grocery stores. A garden for a daughter of diplomats reflects the many places she's lived around the world; for a family that wants to beautify their neighborhood, they designed a vibrant community-oriented front yard. With chapters on floral, edible, gathering, healing, and cultural wonderlands, Bennett provides advice for tailoring a garden to your own needs, whether it's a place to host elegant garden parties, for children to play, to grow your own food and creativity, or a sanctuary to rest and relax. In Garden Wonderland, Bennett helps you unlock the potential of your garden to become a space of inspiring natural beauty, abundance, connection, and belonging.

Permaculture--rooted in centuries-old techniques for growing food with care for the Earth--is the key to producing a bigger harvest than you ever thought possible on your balcony, patio, driveway, deck, and anywhere in between! With sustainability as her guiding principle, Valéry Tsimba enthusiastically instructs home gardeners of all skill levels and backgrounds in her proven container gardening methods, from start to finish. Use the principles of permaculture to increase your garden's productivity, biodiversity, and beauty by starting small and going slow. Get set up: Pick the best planters and tools for your space and learn how to adapt to natural conditions like wind and sun exposure. Increase your harvest naturally with companion planting, small-space composting, chemical-free fertilizers, and staggered harvests. Learn which plants are best suited to container gardens, from leafy greens and pollinator-friendly flowers to strawberries and even melons! Containers make gardening more accessible for everyone. Whether you live in an apartment, have a disability or chronic illness, have never gardened before, or are an experienced gardener new to permaculture, Container Gardening--The Permaculture Way brings sustainable gardening within reach.

Join the permaculture revolution! Author Angela Ferraro-Fanning (Axe & Root Homestead) shares techniques and tips for a homestead with synergy between soil, plants, animals, and trees. If you're like most homesteaders, the dream is to make the most of your land by working with it, not against it. From capturing water and building strong soil to helping your animals live their best lives, The Sustainable Homestead is about making your homestead stronger by achieving synergy between what can seem like different parts. In this book, new and veteran homesteaders alike can find detailed information to put to use this year, this month, even this week! Angela--also the co-host of the HOMESTEADucation podcast and author of the Little Homesteader/Little Country Cottage series of children's books--has spent more than a decade building and strengthening her small acreage homestead and shares the lessons chapter by chapter:   Site Selection: Evaluate the elements, water flow and management, wildlife considerations, effective layouts, land elevation, water access points, permaculture zones, considerations based on acreage, how to remedy site shortcomings Soil: The importance of soil, symptoms of poor soil, synthetics, water and erosion, healthier crops and animals, how to regenerate soil, cover crops, no-till method, perennial plantings Growing: Catching and storing water with swales, catchment ponds, and rain barrels; sunlight and garden design including mandala, terrace, and forest; plant choices; companion planting; holistic pest management including cultural, physical, and biological options Pasture: Design considerations, cover cropping, grazing, animal compatibility, pasture rotation, closed-loop grazing systems, maintenance, solar fencing Animals: Chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, and the sustainable coop; sheep, goats, pigs, and sustainable living quarters; horses, cows, donkeys, and sustainable stable; natural remedies; livestock guardian dogs and barn cats Compost: What is compost?, hot vs. cold, decomposition and carbon to nitrogen ratios, creating a composting system, tier considerations, access and rotation, uses of compost, compost tea Overstory: Nut trees and permaculture contributions, pollinator groups, fruiting trees, planting in guilds, pest management, tree health Wherever you want to start first, follow along and make your homestead more resilient by making it more sustainable.